Gardener shares brilliant tip for reusing empty toilet paper rolls instead of throwing them away: 'Excellent idea'

Reached the end of the roll? Before you bring it to the bin, how about stopping by the office?

Georgia TikToker Failure Garden (@failure_garden) shares an ingenious hack for composting empty toilet paper rolls: run them through the shredder first.

@failure_garden Composting toilet paper tubes #beginnergardening #gardening #QuakerPregrain #composting ♬ muerto gang - qubelly

The scoop

Toilet paper rolls are recyclable, but this TikToker goes one step further and integrates them into their compost pile. Compost works by decomposing organic materials. Fungi and bacteria break them down into smaller pieces until they create a nutrient-rich soil that can be used for repotting house plants or growing your own food.

This TikToker runs each toilet paper tube through a regular office shredder and incorporates the pieces into their compost. "Tiny bits make the composting process go by a little faster," they say.

How it's helping

In some places where you have to pay for city-specific garbage bags or a garbage service, composting food waste will save tons of money. Food that ends up in landfills creates harmful methane gas that contributes significantly to our planet's warming.

But when food scraps are composted properly, they become incredibly nutritious fertilizer, with many benefits to the environment. Compost contributes to the health of soil, which helps plants produce healthy food and clean air. When used in your local gardens and parks, compost reduces the amount of harmful chemical fertilizers in use, making the environment healthier for kids and pets.

Composting also creates green jobs locally. There are many services you can hire to pick up food scraps from your house if composting at home isn't an option. Some cities offer composting services, or you might have a compost drop-off site nearby.

Check out our guide on composting for a great way to reduce your carbon footprint.

What everyone's saying

This idea is inspiring others to compost creatively. One TikToker wanted to use this trick for other compostable items: "Can I use paper towel rolls?"

"Excellent idea!" wrote one user.

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